"Speech"

"Flashback Speech"

/Speech over communication tech/

Infinite Stratos: The Iron-Blooded Devil

Chapter 3: Reunion

When the IS had made its combat capabilities apparent 6 years ago, it should have been no surprise that an Infinite Stratos Regulatory Committee was established to ensure the Alaska Treaty was upheld and public safety was prioritized. However, in recent times, the belief of female superiority that had followed with the IS had bled into the committee. It was another beautiful morning for the committee chairwoman, one Mieko Kobayashi. She began with her normal office routine: a hot cup of coffee, a warm croissant, throwing another pile of complaints into the trash; it was shaping up to be another day. That is until she got a call from her daughter, a student at IS Academy and representative contender of Japan (thanks in no small part to her connections,) saying to turn on the news.

When she did, the first thing she saw was the headline: "A Male IS Pilot?" along with footage of a white, full-armor IS dropping into the field and batting away a black IS. It then cut away to the picture of a teenage boy along with a photo of a younger version of him and his name: Ichika Orimura. The newscaster went on about how he was believed dead five years ago during the Mondo Grosso and that he is the younger brother of Chifuyu Orimura, the first Brunhilde and the strongest woman in the world.

Looks like she's gonna have to take a little trip to IS Academy soon.


Houki held her long-lost childhood friend tightly, slightly afraid that if she let go; he would disappear again.

"Ichika… I thought…I thought you were dead," she sniffled into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry for putting you through that," Ichika said softly as he held her to comfort the girl.

Off to the side, the elder Orimura sibling watched the two reunited childhood friends hug after years apart. Her mind drifted back to a similar scenario a month back:

(Flashback)

Chifuyu was going over the number of ways she was going to maim one pink-haired scientist as she approached the hideaway said scientist led her to. The door opened and allowed her in; she passed by an area that seemed to be blacked out with non-working robots. She slammed the door to the main area open and glared at the woman in the room, standing in front of a large curtain. She growled as she stalked over and cracked her knuckles.

"You got a lot of nerve calling me here after everything you've done."

The elder Shinonono said nothing as the first Brunhilde took in Tabane's state of appearance. Her eyes had dark rings around them and seemed a little sunken, her face was a bit gaunt, clothes were disheveled and dirty; this woman hadn't eaten, slept or, if the smell was anything to go by, bathed in days. She put that out of her mind as she continued towards the soon to be corpse.

"Got anything to say before I rip you in half?"

Tabane remained silent as she suddenly yanked open the curtain behind her. Chifuyu gave a quick glance and almost went back to letting Tabane have it but she looked back. It was a teenage boy, wrapped in medical gauze and hooked up to life support and monitoring equipment. For some reason, she felt compelled to approach this boy; feeling as if she knew him. She passed Tabane, who had remained where she was, while she looked the boy over. A lot of his body was bandaged up with splotches of blood that appeared to be seeping through or covered by the blanket but what parts were visible showed he had a well-toned physique, something she knew a lot of girls would drool over. She turned to the boy's face, the forehead was wrapped up with some gauze on his cheek. She brushed a few strands of hair out of the way to get a better look at his face, it was quite handsome and really familiar. In fact, if he was still alive, she would swear that…. Her breath hitched in her throat and her eyes widened. No, it couldn't be.

"Left hand."

Chifuyu glanced back at the IS inventor.

"On his left hand, there's an old scar."

She turned said hand up and indeed, there was a scar. It was one she knew from the past when Ichika had first held a real sword, she had given him a lecture about how he had to swing the sword and not let it swing him. He had tried to put it back but like an idiot, he grabbed it by the blade and gave himself a shallow cut. It had healed but still left a rather noticeable scar. After five years, it had faded considerably but it was still there and still recognizable. Chifuyu looked back to the boy's face, then to the hand, back and forth a few times; her own hand wrapping around his as realization dawned on her.

This boy was Ichika, he was alive.

Her heart sank, her legs buckled, her breath became short, her eyes began to water and then she began to sob… she had her baby brother back.

Behind the reunited Orimura siblings, Tabane kept her silence as her old friend cried her heart out. Chifuyu must've cried for a good hour or two before she managed to calm down. Whatever anger she had faded upon this new revelation. She joined the IS inventor at her desk as she typed away at something on the computer terminal.

"Why didn't you get him to a hospital?"

"I didn't have time; he lost so much blood that he was practically at death's door. And you and I both know I had a better chance at saving him."

Chifuyu couldn't deny that statement. Tabane then stood and walked towards another curtain with some cylindrical devices around it.

"How bad was it?"

"I had to fix a lot of damaged cerebral nerves otherwise he was going to be paralyzed in some parts of his body. He had a lot of shrapnel in him that I had to remove, too."

"From what?"

"Most likely? From this thing," she pulled the curtain away to reveal the damaged Barbatos. Chifuyu picked up the damaged head, now helmet, and ran a finger across the unbroken side of the crest.

"An IS?"

"I'm not sure. I ran a scan; it doesn't have an IS core and its frame and armor are made of materials I've never seen before."

Chifuyu glanced at Tabane questioningly as she continued; plugging some cables into the machine.

"The frame is composed of a metal that's as strong as tungsten, as hard as diamond and dense as osmium but it seems it's naturally occurring rather than chemically altered and it seems to be much lighter. And the armor is coated with a metallic paint with a multi-layered molecular arrangement that's been vacuum deposited on. At first glance the armor seems hard, but in principle it's like a very thin cushion with several layers. I ran a few tests on a shard and it seems capable of rendering beam weaponry ineffective by diffusing and deflecting the fired beam, minimizing the damage done. I dare say it can even handle physical attacks due to its energy bearing molecules with minimal damage."

The two walked back to the desk terminal.

"In short, it's basically a walking tank, right?"

"Tank' is selling it short. An IS couldn't take the kind of punishment this thing likely could."

"If that's true then what put it in that sorry state?"

"I'm afraid only Ichika knows that. We can ask when he wakes up."

"I'm a little concerned what he might say. Since you said it doesn't have an IS core, what does it run on?"

"I'm accessing its systems now."

While Tabane got to work, Chifuyu noticed something on the table next to the chair; a .22 Magnum. The hammer was pulled back, indicating it was ready for use. She checked the chamber… only one round. Behind the chair was a number of empty bottles for varying hard liquors. These combined with Tabane's current appearance led Chifuyu to realize that if Ichika hadn't turned up so suddenly as he did, this meeting would have been very different. She tried to distance herself from such thoughts when she took note that Tabane and her equipment were set up on the other end of the facility, as far away from the wrecked machine as possible.

"Why are we doing this so far away from it?"

"Because it emits some kind of radiation that knocks out a number of electronic systems. It's harmless to us but it jams precious equipment; it's why Ichika is over here while that thing is on the other side. I have a special filter around it that reduces the range but it is still potent. I'm in."

The screen brought up a strange looking sigil, like a magic circle before data began filling the space. Chifuyu leaned in closer to the screen.

"ASW-G-08… Gun-dam… Frame type B-Bar…Baro-bay-toes…?"

"Barbatos. Barbatos Lupus Rex to be exact."

"You know anything about it?"

"I know 'Barbatos' was a demon appearing in the Ars Goetia in the Key of Solomon, the circle we saw is his; while 'Lupus' and 'Rex' are Latin for 'Wolf' and 'King' respectfully."

"Other than its name, what else did you find?"

"Its power source from the looks of it; two devices called 'Ahab Reactors."

Tabane studied the screen for a bit before exclaiming "Amazing!"

"What is it?"

"If I'm reading this right, these babies generate enormous amounts of energy through transforming artificially generated vacuum elements. It's a perpetual energy source! I've been trying to do the same thing with the IS cores but kept hitting a roadblock. Whoever made this thing figured it out before me. I salute you, sir! Ooh, if I could apply the technology from this machine, the possibilities are ENDLESS!"

"Tabane. Focus."

"Sorry, I got excited."

Chifuyu couldn't help smile a little at her estranged friend having her old passion relit. Maybe she had been holding this grudge a little too long and she did find her thought-dead brother; nursing him back to health. Perhaps it was time to reconcile.

"Alaya-Vijnana?"

"A la- what now?"

"It's listed as an interface system."

Tabane hopped to her feet then dashed over to the wrecked machine; staring intently at where the pilot would be and noting some kind of device. She climbed into the cockpit as much as she could and felt the device poking her in the spine.

"Right in the back, I wonder if it has anything to do with those things."

"What things?" Chifuyu asked as Tabane returned to the computer side of the building.

"Ichika had three protrusions in his back, I couldn't remove them because they're fused to his spinal cord. Judging by the bone growth and the skin developed over them, he must've had them for a while now."

A small robot then approached the two.

"Pardon the interruption, mistress. The patient is regaining consciousness"

Chifuyu immediately rushed to her brother's side.

When he regained enough strength, Ichika filled them in on what happened to him over the past five years. At first, it sounded too crazy to be real but Barbatos' very existence and the data on its combat recorder made her a believer. Chifuyu felt a great deal of emotions with every part, anger and horror of hearing how he was forced to get the Alaya-Vijnana system and spent three years as essentially an expendable slave child soldier, joy and relief at the friends he made within Tekkadan when they took over, wonder at the tales of taking on the space pirate groups of the Brewers and the Dawn Horizon Corps, remorse when he brought up friends who died, shock and concern when she saw the footage of him getting hit with the orbital bombardment and small hint of pride when he got back up and still tore them apart; with only one arm no less. When he told her of the nickname he shared with another, she thought it was a little silly but after seeing the combat data, she understood how he got it.

A debate came about for when Ichika was well enough to return home, Chifuyu didn't want him out of her sight for so long again, so she talked with him and Tabane to see if he could be fitted for an IS to be transferred to the academy. Unfortunately, Tabane hadn't been able to fix the "No Boys Allowed" glitch in the cores, due in part to Ichika's supposed death years ago. In fact, that was the very reason she stopped manufacturing the cores in the first place and hadn't touched anything IS-related since. Ichika, however, suggested to use the Gundam Frame as his machine as he was familiar with it and would get around the issues with the IS core. Chifuyu was a little hesitant about letting him back into something that was almost his coffin but their options were limited and Tabane, having regained a bit of her old spark back, wanted to study its technology.

During the time the elder Shinonono repaired the Barbatos, Ichika spent it recovering and catching up with his studies. While Chifuyu was disappointed at how far behind he was, she could understand that he had to prioritize survival over academics. Tabane had to create a means to reproduce the metal the Gundam's frame was made of and to reapply its Nanolaminate armor; Ichika helped where he could, having worked on Barbatos' maintenance when it was still a full-sized mobile suit. Within a month, the Gundam Frame was restored to full functionality; despite it still being a fraction of its original size. New weapons were designed and built with Ichika's input to suit his fighting style. Tabane installed a new Ahab Wave filtration system to eliminate the EMP effects of said waves, an Absolute Defense System that all IS are equipped with and a new pseudo-core processing unit to work in tandem with the Alaya-Vijnana.

A little snag arose when they had to figure out how to get Ichika into the academy. As it was a well-known fact only females could operate the IS, none of the officials would even entertain the idea, let alone give him a chance to try with the Gundam. And even on the off chance they did, it would become international news and would put a bullseye on his back, something Chifuyu forgot to factor in. Despite Ichika's assurance that he'd be fine and something like this was nothing new, the elder Orimura was still unsure. Tabane added that even if they don't, Ichika would take Barbatos anyway and it wouldn't be long before some self-absorbed IS pilot attacked him just for the fun of it, revealing the Gundam. Chifuyu had to concede to that; lately, the number of assaults against men by women, half of which were by IS pilots, was on the rise and the ISRC was just ignoring it. And, given Ichika's apparent combat history, if such a scenario occurred; he would put her in the hospital. As much as she didn't like it, Ichika was gonna have to make a spectacle of himself.

(Flashback end)

The initial plan was to "find" Ichika with the Barbatos during a transfer student's entrance exam, the arena was gonna be the testing grounds. Sadly, Bodewig crashed Huang and Alcott's training in the same arena that morning which led to the improvisation moments ago. Tabane leaked to the press and faculty about a surprise new student since they knew it would only be a matter of time before it got out to the public; might as well bite the bullet.

Speaking of which, they had better go and face the press after that show. She cleared her throat, grabbing the two's attention.

"I'm sure you two have a lot to catch up on but we might wanna take care of the vultures outside first," she said, thumbing at the door.

The two separated a little reluctantly at that.

"Hey, we'll talk later. I promise," Ichika said as he gave Houki's hand a gentle yet firm squeeze before turning to the door.

Chifuyu walked over to the younger Shinonono sister, "It'll be a bit but you'll get a chance to talk to him, he'll be your new roommate. I'm sure he's gonna tell you what happened to him and, as bizarre and surreal as it will sound, he's telling the truth. I didn't believe it at first either but the evidence I saw proved his story."

Houki blinked in confusion at that. Was what happened to Ichika really that outrageous?

The two Orimura siblings stepped out of the hanger and into a flurry of flashing camera bulbs and multiple questions. It was around that time that Houki had just processed one part of Chifuyu's statement:

'He'll be your new roommate…roommate…roommateroommateROOMMATE…'

The young girl suddenly didn't know whether to be elated or mortified.


Classes carried on as usual for the rest of the day but the only thing anyone could talk about was Ichika and his strange IS. It carried on from morning all the way into the evening.

"Can you believe it? We have an actual boy attending school!"

"I heard he's Ms. Orimura's younger brother, I wonder if he's strong like her."

"What kind of IS does he use? I never seen one like that before."

"I read that he was reported to have died 5 years ago."

"Really, then where did he disappear to?"

"I think Shinonono knows him somehow."

"You mean she's already got a head start?"

Houki blushed a little at that last one; she got the feeling that this was gonna carry on for a while. She had decided to forgo Kendo today as she wanted to talk to Ichika as soon as possible and head back to the room. She paused a bit, wondering if Ichika was already there.

What happened to him? Where has he been? How much has he changed in the time everyone thought he was dead? What was that IS he used?

So many questions ran through her mind and yet, she knew standing here wasn't going to answer any of them.


Room 1025, the room she had been staying in since the year started; she had the room to herself up until now. Not that she disliked the quiet but not many students talk to her and only seem bring up her relation to Tabane. However, Ichika had returned and was gonna stay in the same room as her; part of her thought that it would be shameful for a teenage boy and girl to live in the same room while another believed that she had been given a second chance with Ichika and shouldn't get hung up on the minutia.

After a moment to collect herself, she calmly opened the door to find… no one. Was he still being held up by the reporters? An answer to that was the sound of the bathroom door being opened; she balked at the scene before her. There stood Ichika in the same pants from earlier and a towel draped around his neck and shoulders. She then grasped a few new things. In order: 1) He was shirtless. 2) He had very toned muscles… very toned. 3) He had just gotten out of the shower, if his damp torso was anything to go by. 4) He had a number of faded and fresh scars. The first three made her face light up like a stoplight. The fourth one calmed that down a little but her embarrassment was replaced with shock and horror.

Ichika looked down at himself before pointing at one of his scars, "You wanna know how I got these, right?"

"Does it have to do with where you've been?" she asked.

He nodded then took a seat at the room's computer desk. Houki sat down at the adjacent seat, never taking her eyes off her childhood friend.

"Okay, what I'm about to tell you will probably make you think I'm making it up or gone crazy but, it's the honest truth."

Houki nodded, Chifuyu had given the same kind of forewarning earlier. He began with what happened during the Mondo Grosso and how he ended up on the planet Mars of another world entirely. How he was captured and sold off as human debris to the CGS, forced to get the Alaya-Vijnana surgery before being made a child soldier.

"You're right, this all seems a little crazy," she said.

Ichika simply turned in his chair and removed the towel, showing his "whiskers" to her. She gasped at the sight as she recalled he said he had received the potentially fatal surgery against his will; out of sheer luck he was the only one to survive. She reached out but stopped short of touching the implants. This sort of thing would never be condoned by the world governments nor was such a procedure even developed. For now, she had to accept his words as truth.

"Does it hurt?" Houki asked, not taking her eyes off the whiskers

"No, but it does itch from time to time. And it did feel weird for a while but you get used to it."

He continued on with his story, making mentions of the friends he made and lost, the job to escort Kudelia, the attack by Gjallarhorn and the launch of Barbatos. When he got to his exploits in space, she became captivated like a child; particularly when he mentioned his battles with the space pirate groups. It helped when he showed her some of the battle data from the combat recorder that it convinced her of his story. He went on to describe the crisis with the Mobile Armor and the aftermath. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper; it was photo of him and several other young men and a machine similar to his IS only several times larger and damaged. Houki looked it over, spotting Ichika in the group

"We had that taken after the Mobile Armor incident, Barbatos was pretty banged up so we had it overhauled and upgraded into what it is now."

"Is Barbatos your IS now?"

"Yup, Gundam Barbatos Lupus Rex."

"That's a bit of a mouthful."

"Hey, I didn't name it. The guys at Teiwaz did."

Ichika resumed his tale, using the battle data as an aid and evidence, the battle with the JPT Trust, the aided coup in Gjallarhorn, the battle against the Arianrhod Fleet in space and on Mars; the latter of which shocked Houki the most as that was the one Ichika almost died. He then finished up with explaining Tabane found him, healed him and repaired the Gundam Frame.

"Well, that's my story."

Houki remained silent, she couldn't believe everything he had been through, the hardships, the pain, the fear.

"How?"

Ichika looked at her questioningly.

"How did you not go crazy through all of that?"

He smiled softly at her.

"Because there was someone I wanted to see again. I told myself that 'if I can survive today, then the chance of seeing that someone tomorrow will be greater.' That is what kept me going through all the battles and bloodshed."

Houki blushed a little, she was about to say something else but both were interrupted by a knock at the door. Curious, Ichika cautiously approached the door and opened slightly peeked through. He then opened fully to reveal Chifuyu.

"Hey kid, I came to drop off your new uniform," she said as she handed him the packaged clothes.

"Oh thanks, Chifuyu."

"While on campus, refer to me as Ms. Orimura," She admonished softly.

"Oh right, sorry," he apologized.

The elder Orimura glanced into the room and spotted Houki.

"I take it you told her about what happened?"

"Just got done, actually. The combat recorder data helped a bit."

"How'd she take it?"

"Pretty well from the looks of it."

"Well, you two get some rest; you have a big day tomorrow."

With that, Chifuyu left. Ichika walked back in and laid the uniform on the bed. He sat back down in the chair with Houki looking at him a little strangely.

"What?"

"Why did you do that?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"You were acting like someone was after you when you went to answer the door."

"Oh that. Force of habit, really. Mars wasn't exactly the safest place in the outer colonies."

Houki felt saddened at that.

"Well, we should probably get ready for bed. Like Chifuyu said, it's a big day tomorrow," Ichika said, trying to change the subject.

"Um Ichika?" Houki started, catching his attention.

"I think we need to establish some ground rules, first," she said with a bit of authority.

Long-lost childhood friend or not, they were still teenagers and boundaries had to be drawn.


The next morning in the homeroom of class 1-1, the girls were gossiping up a storm of the new MALE student, one student was absent, Cecilia Alcott who was still in the infirmary along with Lingyin Huang of class 1-2. Charlotte Dunois was still present, albeit a little sore after yesterday. Still, that didn't stop anyone from wondering what class the boy would be put in. It was made no secret that a good deal of the students were hoping it would be theirs. One, however, was not as exuberant: Laura Bodewig. After the surprise entrance, she did a little digging into this Ichika Orimura; what she found made her blood boil. It seems that he was the reason as to why her mentor dropped out of the finals of the second Mondo Grosso. She didn't care if it was because he was kidnapped; if you were weak, you die. Weakness is something that must be cut out, that's what her instructors always taught her. Ichika Orimura was a stain on the perfect image that was Chifuyu "Brunhilde" Orimura; a stain she intended to remove.

The chatter stopped when the aforementioned Brunhilde and her assistant teacher, Maya Yamada stepped in; Maya taking the podium.

"Good morning, class. As I'm sure you are aware, we have a new student joining us at the academy," the green-haired woman said cheerfully.

Bringing up the topic of their gossip may have been the confirmation of their questions (hopes.) Ms. Orimura turned to the door.

"Come on in," she softly ordered.

The door opened, all eyes were on the entrance as the new student walked in. A pair of white slacks with combat boots replaced the skirt the girls wore, the jacket accentuated his broad shoulders; he didn't wear a tie as it would irritate the Alaya-Vijnana on his back. He stood at attention like a soldier before the class and spoke clearly and confidently.

"My name is Ichika Orimura, nice to meet you all."